Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0216/02166.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 12KB | 229 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02166}
$Pretitle{224}
$Title{Lebanon
Appendix B.   The Contending Sides in the 1975 Civil War}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert Scott Mason}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{lebanese
war
civil
militia
army
lebanon
front
party
christian
forces}
$Date{1987}
$Log{}
Country:     Lebanon
Book:        Lebanon, A Country Study
Author:      Robert Scott Mason
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1987

Appendix B.   The Contending Sides in the 1975 Civil War

     The two combatant coalitions in the 1975 Civil War were the right- wing
Christian Lebanese Front, sometimes called the Kufur Front, and the left-wing
Muslim Lebanese National Movement (formerly the Front for Progressive Parties
and National Forces). Combined Lebanese Front forces totaled about 30,000
fighting men and women. Total Muslim-leftist forces were slightly fewer, but
they were occasionally allied with Palestinian forces totaling some 20,000.
The Syrian Army deployed about 30,000 men in Lebanon and intervened first on
the Christian and then on the Muslim side. The Lebanese Army numbered about
18,000 men at the outset of the Civil War. It split quickly along confessional
(see Glossary) lines, with about 3,000 officers and men joining the Lebanese
Front and an approximately equal number joining the Lebanese National
Movement. These defections, as well as widespread desertions, left the
Lebanese Army with a primarily Christian rump force of about 10,000 men.
Commanded by General Hanna Said, the Lebanese Army was officially neutral and
followed the orders of the government but provided tacit and active support to
the Lebanese Front.

The Lebanese Front

The Phalange Party

     Known in Arabic as the Kataib, the Phalange Party (see Glossary) was the
mainstay of the Lebanese Front and bore the brunt of the fighting for the
Christian side. The party was founded by Christian patriarch Pierre Jumayyil
(also seen as Gemayel) in 1936 and was modeled on the German and Italian
fascist parties. The Phalangist militia called itself the Lebanese Forces
(LF). It could muster up to 20,000 troops, of which a core of 3,000 were
full-time soldiers. Under the leadership of William Hawi, and then of Bashir
Jumayyil, it evolved into a formidable and highly organized fighting force.
The Phalange Party practiced conscription in the areas it controlled, drafting
eligible young men to swell its ranks. In internecine fighting throughout the
Civil War and up to 1982, the LF consolidated its leadership of the Lebanese
Front by assimilating other Christian militia, often by force of arms.

The Tigers

     A 500-man militia that was the armed force of the National Liberal Party
of former President Camille Shamun (also seen as Chamoun). The Tigers (Namur)
were more aggressive than the Phalangists, often initiating hostilities with
the Muslim side. On July 7, 1980, the Tigers were virtually wiped out by
Phalangist forces in a surprise operation known as the "Day of the Long
Knives."

The Marada Brigade

     This 3,500-strong unit, also called the Marada (Giants), named after
Byzantine border guards in ancient Lebanon, represented the interests of
Sulayman Franjiyah (also seen as Franjieh), president of Lebanon at the
outbreak of the Civil War. It was also called the Zghartan Liberation Army
after Zgharta, Franjiyah's home town. It operated mainly out of Tripoli and
other areas of northern Lebanon, but it also fought in Beirut. The alliance
between the Phalangists and the Marada ended on June 13, 1978, with a surprise
LF attack on Ihdin, the Marada headquarters, during which the Marada
commander, Tony Franjiyah (Sulayman's son), was killed.

The Guardians of the Cedars

     This was an extremist Maronite (see Glossary) militia and terrorist
organization led by a former police officer, Etienne Saqr. Named after
Lebanon's national symbol, it consisted of about 500 men and cooperated with
the Phalangists during the Civil War.

The Order of Maronite Monks

     An order of militant monks with a militia of 200 priests led by Father
Sharbal Qassis, it fought alongside the other Christian forces.

At Tanzim

     At Tanzim (The Organization) was originally a small secret society of
Christian officers within the Lebanese Army who supported the Phalangists. At
Tanzim helped split the army early in the Civil War and attempted to
incorporate defectors from the army into its ranks. At Tanzim also accepted
members from outside the army, mostly from the upper and professional classes.
It fielded its own militia of about 200.

The Lebanese National Movement

The Progressive Socialist Party

     Lebanon's Druze (see Glossary) community, led first by Kamal Jumblatt
(also seen as Junblatt) and, after his assassination in 1977, by his son
Walid, provided the titular leadership of the Muslim-leftist coalition in the
Civil War. The party's militia of approximately 2,500 men played only a small
role in the actual combat, however, limiting its involvement to fighting in
the Mount Lebanon (see Glossary) area.

The Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party

     The Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP) was established in Lebanon
in 1932 by Antun Saadah, who hoped to unite the Levantine nations and recreate
Greater Syria (see Glossary). Even though it fought in alliance with the
Muslims and leftists in the Civil War, its membership was primarily Christian
and its political stance right wing; in fact, its red hurricane symbol was
modeled after the Nazi swastika. The SSNP has a long history of terrorism and
subversion in Lebanon. Saadah was executed by the Lebanese government in 1949,
after launching an abortive coup attempt. The SSNP was active in the 1958
Civil War, where it fought on the pro-Western side. In December 1961, an SSNP
armored battalion commander staged the Lebanese Army's only significant
attempted coup d'etat against the government and managed to arrest a
half-dozen high-ranking officers before he was stopped. During the 1975 Civil
War, the SSNP fielded a militia of about 3,000 men. After the 1976 Syrian
intervention, it split into anti-Syrian and pro-Syrian factions. The latter
group reportedly assassinated Druze patriarch Kamal Jumblatt in 1977 and
President-elect Bashir Jumayyil in 1982. Since March 1985, the SSNP has
dispatched about a half-dozen suicide vehicle-bombers against Israeli
positions in southern Lebanon.

Amal

     The word for hope in Arabic, Amal is also an acronym for Afwaj al
Muqawamah al Lubnaniyyah (Lebanese Resistance Detachments). Amal, with a
strength of approximately 1,500 men, played only a marginal role in the 1975
Civil War. Nevertheless, many Shias (see Glossary) fought for other leftist
organizations and were the cannon fodder of the Civil War. The Shia
renaissance was initiated by Imam Musa as Sadr, a charismatic Iranian
religious figure of Lebanese ancestry who founded a husayniyyah (Shia
religious site) in Sidon in 1959. In 1974, on the eve of the Civil War, Sadr
established the Movement of the Disinherited to represent Shia interests. In
1975, with the help of the Palestine Liberation Organization, he organized the
Amal militia as the military arm of The Movement of the Disinherited. Sadr
disappeared and was presumed murdered while on an official visit to Libya in
August 1978, and leadership of Amal was assumed by Nabih Birri (also seen as
Berri), a secular-oriented Beirut lawyer. In 1987 Birri continued to lead
Amal, but several fundamentalist splinter groups had broken away from his
organization.

Communist Organizations

     The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), led by George Hawi, had a membership
of about 3,000, mainly Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox. Its militia, the
Popular Guard, played a significant role in the Civil War, fighting on the
Muslim-leftist side despite its Christian membership. The Organization of
Communist Action, a dissident, radical splinter group of the LCP, was led by
Muhsin Ibrahim and had a membership of about 2,000.

The Najjadah

     Led by Adnan H